Let Love Lead The Way
by Susan
Summary: Ah, the 1st person perspective. We see this chapter through the eyes of Leon, Claire and Jill. Watch out for the next chapter, which will be the finale.
1. You Make Me Sick

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"Part of me laughs

Part of me cries

Part of me wants to question why

Why is there joy

Why is there pain

Why is there sunshine and the rain

If one day you're here, next you are gone

No matter what we must go on

Just keep the faith, and,

Let love lead the way..." *****

Claire Redfield squinted at herself in her bathroom mirror. It was 7 am, and she definately was *not* a morning person. 'Morning people' were organized, well-to-do individuals who were ecstatic at the promise of another fresh, new day. Claire, however, thought of each day as 24 hours she'll never be able to get back. Another day meant she was closer than ever to her inevitable death. Claire was the prime example of an Anti-Morning Person. 'Whatever,' she'd always think to herself as she'd wake. 'Maybe this day will be better than the last...'

Rubbing the crust out of her eyes, Claire turned the tap on and splashed her face with the ice cold water a couple of times. 

It was February 14th, Valentine's Day. She knew Jill was at Chris' house, taking care of him while he was sick. 'At least they have each other...' she told herself, almost bitterly. Claire had a problem. She liked Leon. Leon didnt like her. Not the most original of problems, she'd admit, but a quite common one at that. Claire knew Jill had problems expressing her feelings, which was why she figured her and her brother werent in the sack yet. 

As she slipped on her clothes, sporting her trendy biker jacket, she couldn't help but feel miserable. Today, millions of couples around the world would be celebrating the fact that they're together. Meanwhile, millions more singles, including herself, would self-loathingly plop down onto the coach and watch porno till it's 3 in the morning. But maybe today would be different. Maybe Leon would give her a tiny kiss on the cheek, and wish her a happy V-Day. Or maybe Leon would confess his love for her. Or maybe Leon would stop being such a duntz and just...

Dismissing the thought, Claire checked her hair. It was put into ten seperate buns with a tuft of hair springing out from each one, a carbon copy of Mandy's hairstyle on Temptation Island. It looked stupid, no doubt about that, but she didnt care. 

Half an hour later, Claire arrived at Leon's apartment. Leon was awake, and making breakfast, while Sherry was asleep on the couch. 

"Hey Kennedy," said Claire. Leon looked up at her from the stove, then grimaced.

"What the hell did you do to your hair?" he exclaimed. 

"Buh... excuse me?"

"You look like Medusa, or something..." Leon said.

Claire just smiled coyly to herself. Leon would always comment harshly on her hair. First, her pony tail looked too plain to him. Then, when Claire died her hair pink, Leon said it was too "wild". Now this. 

"...I think I'll call em the Ten Buns of Ugly. How about that?" Leon continued, as he brought two plates of eggs, bacon and toast onto the dining table. 

"I could use some breakfast too, KENNEDY."

"Then make some yourself, REDFIELD."

Leon knew Claire couldn't cook... at all. He just gave her a smug smile, and shoved some eggs into his mouth. 

"You and Sherry gonna be ready for the fireworks?" Claire squeaked, as she took a seat next to Leon. The town they were living in, Scarborough, held an annual fireworks display in celebration of Valentine's. Claire figured it'd be corny, but she loved fireworks, nonetheless. 

"Sure. That is, if Sherry ever wakes up." said Leon, gulping down some coffee. 

As if on cue, Sherry's eyes fluttered open. She sat up, stretching, getting the morning kinks out of her body. The 12 year old yawned, brushing the strands of dirty blonde hair out of her eyes. 

"Mornin..." she harrumphed, trudging over to the bathroom. 

Claire just giggled quietly, "Not much of a morning person, is she?" Leon just shook his head, took a bite out some toast, and asked Claire nonchalantly, "You haven't even brushed your teeth yet, have you?"

An awkward pause. 

"You know me too well, Kennedy."

"Either that or the Ten Buns of Ugly are hypnotizing me."

"Shut up."

"YOU shut up."

"NO YOU SHUT UP!

~~~

At that very moment, Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine had just finished their first-ever-official kiss. They were standing in the middle of his living room, holding each other. Jill's pale skin turned into a noticeable rosey pink. 

"Wow..." she remarked, giving Chris a smile. 

Chris just stood in awe, replaying what just happened in his head... over... and over... and over... still not believing any of it. To him, he was just in some fanciful wonderworld where everything was perfect and Jill... hot DAMN...

"I... I..."

Within moments, they were on each other again, this time, like two dogs fighting over a piece of meat. 

'Perfect... this is perfect...' Chris thought, 'Nothing can spoil this moment... nothing BETTER spoil this moment...' The phone rang... of course. 

"Dont get it" Jill was able to mutter between smooches. Chris didnt. 

~~~

Claire threw the phone down in frustration. "They're not there!" Leon just grinned, "Oh yes they are... they're probably going at it like jackrabbits." Claire threw a hair pin at Leon and made a face. 

"Vomitrocious!**" she exclaimed. 

"What?"

"Vomitrocious! It's a saying I picked up from Sherry. It means, 'Ick! I'm not touching that with a forty foot pole!"

Leon squinted, "Then why dont you say that instead?"

"Cuz vomitrocious is easier!"

Leon rolled his eyes, watching Sherry stalk into the kitchen. 

"Of course."

The man couldn't help but be at ease with Claire. She was young, she was fiesty, but she had an awesome sense of maturity in her, too. Leon saw Claire display that in spades during their trek through Raccoon City. He respected her, but Claire would always surprise him (no… wait, she never surprised him) with her goofish, spunky attitude. 

"Claire?"

"Hmm?" she looked up from reading a 'fascinating' article about who the winner of Survivor 2 will be in the morning paper. 

"You'll be my date for the Valentine's Fireworks, right?" he asked, his large eyes twinkling.

"Duh!" Claire grinned, then went back to reading. 

'Good…' Leon thought to himself. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________

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*That's the chorus to 'Let love lead the way' by The Spice Girls. My friends all make fun of me cuz I like the song… They say it's cheesy. I think it's beautiful, if you have Napster, download it now! 

Oh, and all RE characters and related events are owned by Capcom, don't sue me, I have no money, bley blah bling. 


	2. Thank You

  
2:00 in the afternoon. The sun shone brightly down onto the tiny town of Scarborough. Birds flew silently and gracefully through the clear, crisp air. There was no snow to be seen, although it was a tad chilly, chilly enough to warrant a light spring jacket. It was one of the days were it felt good to be alive.   
It was hard to believe that Scarborough was only a 30-minute drive from Raccoon City... which was now just a large wasteland of debris.   
Jill sighed to herself calmly, enjoying the scenery that was Chris' backyard. She was dressed, so was Chris, and in-between their make-out sessions, they were able to ready themselves for the day. Chris was preparing lunch, and she was stretched out on a lawn chair.   
'Did Chris really mean what he said to me?... Is he just out for, you know...?...' thoughts like that had snuck into Jill's mind frequently through the day. It was Valentine's Day, which also doubled as her birthday. Claire had invited her to the Valentine's fireworks for a little celebration, but she secretly knew that it was a ploy of Claire's to discover Jill and Chris' relationship, and where it stood.   
"Jillll?" Chris shrieked from within the house, interrupting her thoughts.   
"Yeah?"  
"Do you want the green ketchup or the red?"  
"Surprise me."  
Chris nodded to himself. 'She loves surprises...' He had made burgers and fries for her, which Chris knew Jill would hate, since she was a fanatic health freak. But he figured she'd let herself go, only for her birthday. He squirted some green ketchup on the side of Jill's plate, placed the burger and fries next to it, did the same to his plate, and wiped his hands on his cargo pants. "Here it comes..." he yelled.   
In the backyard, Jill groaned as she lifted her body up from the lawn chair. She walked into the living room, saw the plates of burgers... saw Chris' goofy smile... then groaned.   
"Chris!"  
"What?"  
"You... you know I hate fatty foods!" she sputtered.  
"Honey, it's your birthday. A little meat wont hurt you." he winked at her, and ate a French fry.   
Jill just rolled her eyes, once again defeated by Chris' charm. The man had a temper, but boy, when he brought out that smile...  
"Fine! But I'm only eating half the burger..." she muttered. Sitting down, she gave the man a kiss, then began to eat the slimy, manufactured glopp before her.   
  
~~~  
  
Leon, Sherry and Claire were all cramped in Leon's cheap, rented car, driving down a long, lonely stretch of road, toward Chris' house. Leon was driving, Claire was idly drawing angular figures in the passenger seat window, and Sherry was curled up in the backseat. Dido's 'Thank You'* was playing on the radio, which was Sherry's favourite song.   
"Leon, turn the volume up!" the 13 year old chirped.   
"Sher, you turn the volume up for songs that are sung by angry rappers, not an estrogen-overdosed British woman." said Leon.   
"LEON! That was rather sexist, even for you." Claire ended the sentence by punching him in the arm. Sherry followed suit.   
"Hey! Ladies! Fine." he turned the volume up a couple of notches. Satisfied, Sherry laid back in her seat, sighing. Claire turned around and smiled warmly.   
"What's wrong, hun?"  
Sherry just shrugged, choosing to keep quiet. Valentine's day, to her, was always about jealously watching her friends and their boyfriends going out on dates while she stayed home and watched movies with her aunt. She was attracted to Leon**, but she was old enough to realize, that he was too old for her. She just stared back at Claire, looking into her deep, green eyes.   
"C'mon, you can tell me," Claire smiled, and softened her voice a bit "...is it girl stuff?"  
The girl nodded. Claire nodded back, "We'll talk later, then..." while pointing at the rookie cop in the seat next to her.   
"Ladies, dont yawl be talking behind my back." he brushed a strand of hair away from his eyes.  
Sherry and Claire simultaneously rolled their eyes, then giggled.   
  
10 minutes later, the trio arrived at Chris' house. Jill was in the living, Playstation controller in her hand, furiously trying to play Dino Crisis 2. Jill and Chris were in the midst of an interesting conversation...  
"What are you TALKING about, Chris? I look *nothing* like Rebina."  
"Her name is REGINA. And she looks JUST like you, except with red hair."  
The couple just laughed at each other. Jill paused the game, and scooted closer to Chris. He put his arm around her, protectively.   
"I love you." she said.  
"I love you too."  
"...do you mean that?" Jill countered. The question caught Jill off guard. Of course he meant it. He meant every word...   
"What kind of question is that? Of course I do. I didn't even give you your birthday present, yet."  
He lifted himself from the couch, then dashed off somewhere in the house. Present? 'Did he actually get me a present?' Jill thought to herself.   
While waiting, she continued on with the game. It was a boss, in the Missile Silo with the gigantasaurus, where you have to set off the fires to evade the large dinosaur. Jill did so, and was rewarded with the game's best FMV. While watching Regina run from the Gigantasaurus, another thought popped into her head...  
'...I have a costume at home just like hers. Where is it? Oh, yeah, it's in the trunk with my police uniform, STARS uniform... the biker outfit I borrowed from Claire... and that horrible disco suit Carlos gave me as a gag gift...'  
Her thoughts were yet again interrupted as Chris practically shoved a tiny, palm-sized box into her face.   
"What's this?"  
"Open it..." Chris couldn't help but smile. He practically spent his life savings buying it for her...  
Jill opened the box. It was a gold necklace, with a fancy heart shape pendant. The heart was lined with tiny, sparkling diamonds. She opened the pendant, and read the inscripted words...  
  
"Everlasting, eternal, endless.  
I'll love you forever and always, Jill.  
~Chris"  
  
She looked back at Chris, her mouth open in awe... and surprise. Chris was still smiling, but his expression softened when he saw her eyes water up.  
"Chris... I..."  
Miss Valentine stumbled around for words, trying to sum up her feelings and emotions in some comprehensible sentence, but she couldn't. She grabbed Jill, and gave him a deep, loving, tender kiss. Chris nearly melted on the spot, feeling her soft lips press against his like that. Finally, Jill was able to spew out some words.  
"Chris... it's so beautiful... how did you ever afford...?"  
"That's none of your business. It's my gift to you." Chris said, taking her right hand and kissing it gently.   
...The doorbell rang, suddenly, nearly causing both of them to jump up the wall.   
"It's Claire and Leon..." Jill whispered. Chris nodded, then went to answer the door.   
Wiping her damp eyes, Jill put on the pendant, and looked at herself in the mirror. 'Wow... I guess Chris does love me...' Gripping the heartshaped locket in her hand, she closed her eyes, and smiled.   
  
__________________________________________________________________________________  
*Another beautiful, touching song. Go download it now, Napster users. Please?  
  
**Heh, I was gonna have a 'Sherry trying to get Leon's affection' subplot, but I decided it was too much like Mayumi's wonderful "Thank Heaven For Little Girls" (I urge you to read it if you haven't), so I decided to drop it. I'm not a copycat or anything...   
  
Sorry this chapter was so short... but my creative bursts last only fifteen minutes. ^_^  
  
Oh, and all that Resident Evil stuff is owned by Capcom, not moi. So dont sue me, Mr. Capcom Representative Man.   



	3. Don't Tell Me

  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Chris engulfed his baby sister in a hug, after greeting her, Leon and Sherry at his front door. He turned to Leon, "Do we hug?"  
"No. I think we're too manly." the cop said, smiling. They just shook hands. Sherry ran up to Chris, and grabbed him in a huge bear hug.  
"Chris!" she squealed.   
"Ouww.. Sherry... you're getting big." He let her back down, and she just narrowed her eyebrows.  
"Hey, I'm 13! I just happen to be short for my age."  
He smiled at her. Claire had introduced Chris to Sherry when they both got back from the whole Ashford debacle. They hit off immediately, and Claire noticed they both acted more immaturely than usual when with each other.   
"Hey, Chris..." Sherry said.   
"Hmm? What?"  
"Look what I can do..." the girl touched the tip of her nose with her tongue.   
"Hey, pretty impressive, kid! I'm sure that'll come in handy during your sorority years..."  
Claire punched Chris in the arm, and screeched like a rabid monkey, "Are you makin' fun of me, Mr. PeePants?"  
"Mr. PEE PANTS?! Dont you dare!" he screamed.   
Claire just ignored him and bent down to Sherry, "When Chris went to summercamp..."  
"CLAIRE, NO!"  
"...there were 4 incidents in which he could not control his bladder..."  
"CLAAAAIRE!!"  
"...one of them including his first kiss with a girl..."  
"AAAAHHH!!"  
Leon, annoyed more than interested, walked past Chris, Claire and Sherry, towards the living room. Jill was standing in front of the mirror. He smiled...  
'She's beautiful. She's always beautiful...' his body shivered. Jill turned around, a bit surprised to see Leon standing there and watching.  
"Leon! Hey! You gave me a scare."   
"Heh, sorry." he grinned sheepishly.  
They hugged each other. Jill met Leon when she and Carlos set out to find Chris in Paris. She thought he was cute, but that was it. Leon, on the otherhand, worshipped the ground Jill walked on. He liked Claire, but she was too... well... sorority-college-girl-ish for him. He wanted somebody mature. Somebody who has a strong sense of right and wrong. Somebody that can and will stand up for what they believe in. Somebody like Jill...  
Leon was always oblivious to the fact Chris and Jill spent a lot of time together. Even with some aids from Claire, Leon just thought of the two of them as close friends, nothing more.   
"You're looking beautiful today, as usual. Happy birthday." he grinned.   
"Thanks Leon. You're not too bad yourself."  
He chuckled softly, watching Jill's face brighten up into a smile. A twinkling around Jill's neck caught Leon's eye. He looked at her heart pendant, gawking.   
"Whoa, who got you that?"  
Jill clutched the pendant in her hand, "Chris did. Isnt he sweet? It's for my birthday..." The hair on the back of Leon's neck bristled like a porcupine, something that always happened when he was struck with a pang of jealousy. He handed a book to her, which was clutched in her hands.   
"It's for you."  
It was a book of classic love poems, including Leon's personal favourite, which started out as 'How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...'. Jill squealed.  
"Leon!" she threw her arms around him, "Thank you so much! This is wonderful!"   
Leon smiled, breathing in Jill's intoxicating scent.   
"You're welcome..."  
  
Later that day, approximately at 3:45pm, Sherry was sitting crosslegged in the living room, a see-thru Playstation controller gripped tightly in her two hands. Claire sat down next to her.   
"Whatcha playin, Sherry?"  
Sherry's eyes were locked to the screen, but she answered Claire anyway.  
"It's this really cool game, Biodanger 2!"  
Claire didnt like video games, but she feigned interest, "What's it about?"  
And in one breath, Sherry blurted out... "There's this town, called Squirell Town that's been plagued with a mutigenic toxin called the P-Disease, which is a variation of the B-Disease, which was in Biodanger 1. The B-Disease was created by this really evil company called Raincoat. You take control of either Larry S. Kerny, or Clora Bluefield. Larry's kinda cute, but I prefer Clora's game. It's more challenging. And there are these other characters, too, some bitch-spy named Sada Fong, and this really annoying little boy that follows Clora around, Harry Firkin. His family works for Raincoat. You kill zombies and other stuff in it, plus this really gross monster that used to be Harry's mom, who created the P-Disease! It's FUCKING WICKED!  
Claire's eyes bulged out.   
"Sherry, that kinda sounds like-"  
The girl continued to rant, "Oh, and dont get me started on how cool Biodanger 3: Premesis was! Although I really hated Biodanger: Survivor - The Australian Outback. It was this really lame first person shooter... something about the cast of Survivor 2 being infected with the B-Disease... the main character, Jeff Probst, has, like, amnesia, or whatever. But Biodanger: Code Harmonica was reeeeaaally good... it was all about Clora Bluefield's search for her brother, Christopherson! Clora is my FAVE character! Did I mention that there's this brother and sister in the game, I think their names are Alexander and Anorexia Bashford, and they like... LOVE each other! It's so FUCKING gross!"  
Rolling her eyes, Claire got up and walked into the kitchen, where Leon was sipping some coffee, gazing out into the window with dead eyes.   
"Something wrong, Kennedy?"  
Leon turned around, facing her.   
"No. Just wondering when Jill's coming back." Leon's gaze was transfixed on the window, eyeing every detail of Chris' yard, yearning for the sight of Jill's car pulling up into the driveway.   
Claire paused, "Oh. Well, I'm sure going out for groceries wont take that long."   
'Jill? You're wondering when JILL'S coming back? What the fuck?' Claire smiled politely, and said through gritted teeth, "What's so important about Jill?"  
Leon just shrugged nonchalantly... "I kinda like it when she's around, that's all."  
'Oh', She felt her face get hot, '...he likes it when she's around. That's all...' and Claire could tell she was red with anger. She needed to shoot back somehow... quickly... now... aha!  
"Uh... have you noticed how close Jill and Chris have gotten, lately?" Claire didnt know what she was doing. She never got this jealous. She never tried to make anyone feel bad because *she* felt bad. But psychological warefare was psychological warefare, and Claire was the most competitive (pardon my french) bitch out there. In her high school basketball teamshe forced the other girls to call their squad 'Team Claire'.*  
"Huh?" Leon spun around, to face the angry college girl behind him, "What are you saying?" Leon's nostrils flared. They did that whenever he felt threatened, or mad. Claire had always thought of it as cute, but today, it was hardly charming. In fact, she got mad at the fact she didnt find it charming anymore. She was *that* angry. She felt her movements become slower, and she began to ache. She hated being jealous... and so did her body...  
Claire's mind, however, was going a mile a minute. 'Leon likes Jill. Leon doesn't like me. Leon LIKES JILL. But Chris likes Jill. And Jill likes Chris. Leon doesn't stand a chance in hell. But what if he's so crushed, he doesnt wanna be with anyone anymore? What if Leon's just covering up his feelings for me? Yah right, Claire. Leon - likes - Jill. Leon doesnt like me. He likes Jill. HE LIKES JILL. LEON - LIKES - JILL!"  
"Leon... do you LIKE Jill, or something?"  
There. She dropped the bomb. Now it's only a matter of time before it explodes in Leon's face.   
"I..."  
He didnt know what to say. If it were one of his other friends, he woulda said, 'Yeah, I like her' but to Claire... well... he felt scared to say anything.  
"I..."  
Claire felt her eyes watering up. 'I'm not gonna cry in front of Leon... I'm not gonna cry in front of Leon...' And she probably wouldn't have, if Leon wouldn't have stood there like a bumbling idiot, unable to say anything. She didnt wanna cry, she always felt it was a sign of weakness, especially over something as trivial as a harmless crush.   
"I do like her, Claire. In fact, I think I love her. Yeah, I'm in love with her." and immediately, Leon had never regretted saying something so much than he had just did...  
A seemingly eternal, breathless hush came over the kitchen they were standing in. Claire was standing, quivering with sadness. It was a blow to her woman-hood. She hated rejection... she hated it so much...  
Sadness was soon replaced with rage, as Claire drew back her fist, clenched her fingers together, slamming the tightened mass of her hand as hard as possible across Leon's face. Leon was drawn back, and shock soon became pain. Heavy, bleeding pain. He fell to the floor, dazed.   
"OWJESUSCHRIST!"  
"You fucking moron! YOUFUCKINGMORONIHATEYOUSOMUCH!!" Claire shrieked at the top of her lungs, barely able to hear herself, eyes filled with tears. She tore out of the kitchen, pushing open the front door. Leon stood back up, rubbing his soon-to-be-purple jaw, watching Claire run down the street.   
"C...Claire?"  
'Shit,' he thought to himself, 'Holy shit...'  
And in the living room, Sherry (oblivious to the attack two rooms over) had pumped her fist into the air, having finally defeated Diodanger 2's Clora/Scenario B/final boss.   
"YES!!"  
__________________________________________________________________________________  
  
*Just an (un)interesting tidbit, I'd always make any sports team I was on call us "Team Susan". It has a nice ring to it... doesnt it?  
  
Oh, and Capcom, dont sue me, because I *know* a company like yourself would not want a poor girl like me living in the streets, broke, hungry, begging, and being sexually molested by those gross street-thugs dwelling in the shadows. How would you like that hanging over your heads? Huh? HUH?!  



	4. Only Time

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My eyes bulged out as Claire tore through the front yard of her brother's house, tears falling freely from her eyes, the wind whipping her hair wildly over her head, like an untamed animal. She ran fast, really fast. I dont think I've ever seen her legs move that quickly. What I was feeling that exact moment was... well.. a strange collage of emotions. First... I was hurt. Emotionally, and ESPECIALLY phsyically... then, I was confused...  
'What did I say to make Claire so angry?'   
...a little sad...  
'Great... I've ruined her life...'  
...and perhaps a little confused...  
'I'll never understand women...'  
So I was left in that kitchen, standing there, my mind going a mile a minute. The pain in my lower face pulsated, and intensified. Claire REALLY knew how to punch... I guess Chris wasn't kidding when he told me "not to piss Claire off." She was mad at me. But why?  
' I had told her I liked Jill... then she just flipped out...'  
It all made perfect sense. She liked me. CLAIRE liked ME. Claire Redfield! She'd told me several times before she doesnt go for 'pretty boys like myself', but... dammit... confusion came over me again...  
Within moments, Chris hopped downstairs.   
  
"Hey Leon? Is Jill back?" he asked me, but when he took one look at my face, I saw his brow furrow, "What happened? I think I heard someone yelling..."  
I didnt answer, instead, I just continued to stare at a crack in the floor. I didnt want to say anything, to embarass myself or Claire, so I just kept my big trap shut.  
"Hey, where *is* Claire?" confused, Chris did a 180 turn, eventually realizing that nobody was there but himself, Sherry, and I. He walked out of the kitchen, down the hallway, and toward the living room. I heard them talk about the 'wicked game' Sher was playing, so I decided to go see... besides, I *am* the master of everything polygonal.  
There, Sherry had just finished watching the ending and credits of the dumb game she was playing. She told me later it was called Bio...hazardous... dangerous... hazard... 2. Or something like that. Her rank came up on the screen, (against a picture of a cute red-headed girl with a ponytail and some 8 year old punk on their motorcycles) which consisted of:  
  
Total time played: 1 hour 10 minutes 8 seconds  
Number of Saves: 0  
Use of Special Weapons: None  
Use of First Aid Kids: None  
  
Rank: S  
  
Sherry, for the 3rd time that day, jumped up into the air, screaming "YES! YES! WHO'S YOUR DADDY?! WHO'S YOUR DADDY?!?!" I blankly stared at the girl, who eventually calmed down, saved the game, and started Larry B/Scenario 2nd.  
"Now I'm gonna play as Larry! He's really cute! He kinda looks like you, Leon, but not really!"  
Chris tried to ask Sherry where Claire went, but she shushed him.  
"Quiet! The opening FMV is coming on!"  
And here is what we saw:  
  
Monotone Narrator: Amidst the P-Disease outbreak in Squirell Town, a college girl named Clora Bluefield attempted to find her brother, Christopherson, a member of Special.Tactics.Under.Frequent.Faking.Squad, or STUFFS. She, along with Harry Firkin, who's family worked for Raincoat, escaped successfully... but Clora was not the soul survivor...  
  
"Special Tacticts Under Frequent Faking Squad? That doesn't even make sense..." I blurted out, but I got the evil-eye from Sherry in return.  
  
The opening shot of a police car driving down a barren, empty road played on the television screen. It stopped, and a bumbling rookie cop steps out, upon seeing a dead body lying in the middle of the road.   
"Huh?! WHAT'S THIS." the cop said in the silliest, over-acted voice over I've ever heard.  
  
Chris rolled his eyes, "The voice-acting is so lame."  
"SHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"  
  
The FMV continued. At a gas station, a zombie-like creature took a huge bite out of some redneck trucker's arm. He punched the zombie in the face, and rab into his truck,clutching his arm.  
"Ow! That GUY is A maniAC. WhY did HE just bite ME?! WHY?!?!"  
  
I couldn't believe how lame the FMV was. And that Larry guy doesnt look ANYTHING like me, I'm telling you. Sure, it looked kinda familiar... but still. LAME.   
  
'Larry' became surrounded by zombies. He shot them off one by one, until he nearly shot a pretty brunette girl who burst out of a diner. A zombie was persuing her from behind. She kinda looked like someone I knew... but I couldnt put my finger on it on that exact second.  
"DONT shoot!" the girl shrieked.  
"Get DOWN!" Larry shrieked back.   
He blasted the zombie that was shambling towards her. He offered her a hand, overacting once again, "Lets HEAD to the Squirrel Police Department, its MUCH safer THERE."  
  
I groaned, "Sherry... just turn it off... it's giving me a bigger headache than I already have..."  
  
"SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"  
  
Larry and the girl ran into an SPD squad car that just HAPPENED to be right there. Larry drove it through the empty streets... of what I suppose was 'Squirel Town'.   
"What's HAPPENING? I come looking for MY BROTHER, and I MET UP  
with a ZOMBIE instead!" Clora said in the most impossibly-cheesy voice ever.  
"GreAT! The radio IS out!" Larry shot back.   
"You're a COP, RIGHT?"  
"Duh. First DAY on the JOB. Great, HUH? My name's Larry. LARRY S. KERNY."  
"My name's Clora. Clora Bluefield. I'm LOOKING for my brother, Christopherson."  
  
The car continued to drive down a road, Clora and Larry made small talk, until the truck with the infected redneck came barreling towards them. And 'suddenly', a zombie in the back of Larry's car attacked them. How unexpected. They both let out emotionless screams.  
  
"AAH."  
"AAH."  
  
They crashed the car, and the truck flipped over a couple of times, before landing on the squad car itself, emitting a powerful explosion. Clora and Larry both escaped the car before-hand, now seperated.  
"CLORA. I'm alRIGHT. Head FOR the SPD."  
"oKAY."  
The screen went blank, and there was a tiny caption, "At the same time, at the same pla-"  
  
I turned the Playstation off, my headache was seemingly throbbing inside my cranium. I had to go out and find Claire.  
"Hey!! Leon!"   
"Leon!" even Chris protested, "It was getting really good!"  
I was about to say something really nasty to them, when the voice of an angel interrupted me...  
"I'm back!" Jill yelled out at us from the foyer.   
"JIIIIIL! LEON TURNED OFF MY PLAYSTATION!" Sherry screamed, as she ran toward her.  
I was, of course, shit-excited that Jill was finally back, but strangely, I was more concerned about Claire. Where was she? Was she alright? Was she gonna hate me for the rest of my life?  
As I walked up to Jill to help with the groceries, Sherry was half whining/half sobbing.  
"...and Leon didnt even ask to turn the Playstation off!"  
Jill looked up at me, giggling. "Leon, that wasn't very nice of you."  
"I know," I said, just to see Jill smile again, "I'm sorry Sherry."  
"No you're not. But... enough of this. I HAVE to play Larry's B scenario."  
And with that, she ran back into the living room, and I heard the tune of the Playstation's start up screen bounce from the living room to the kitchen. I turned back to Jill. She took a step closer to me, and put her hand on my chin. I nearly fainted.  
"Oh my god, Leon, what happened?"  
"Huh?" I had nearly forgotten about what had happened 5 minutes before, "Oh... I uh... I walked into a door." Jill looked at me, her face unreadable. "A door?" she looked around "Where's Claire?"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
There was something about me that never let me quit. I dont know what you call it... but my mom said it was determination. She said it was that that made me better than the other girls. I often scared people with my relentlessness, I even scare my brother.   
So when I punched Leon and ran out of my brother's house... I found it hard to stop running. Even when I wanted to quit, to take a break, to catch my breath, I couldnt stop running. I was crying so hard and loathing Leon so much... my senses became entangled with one another... and nothing made sense anymore. I couldn't help but be sad... and jealous... and angry... (REALLY angry)... but it's healthy. There are some people who bottle up there emotions deep inside of them... and I dont think that's good at all. You need an outlet. You need to have some proverbial punching bag. And I guess that's what Leon, the poor sob, turned into.   
I think, eventually, I stopped running when I was about one block away from Barry Burton's house. Barry was the wisest person I knew, 'Maybe he could consolidate me somehow.' I thought to myself.  
I walked up his well-kept lawn, approached his door, and saw a note on it applied with tape.   
"On Vacation. If you're a burglar... uh... I'm home. And I have a shotgun."  
UGH! This was probably the most inconvienient time for Barry and his family to be on vacation.   
I was hopeless. I was helpless. The man of my dreams is in love with... JILL. I mean... it's not that I hate Jill.. but it seems that each day her wardrobe gets a bit smaller. Get some CLOTHES, woman. Jeez.  
'But wait... maybe that's why Leon likes her. Because she dresses like a slut. Great. Just great.'  
I was nothing compared to Jill. She had a more slender body, prettier face, and a fuller chest (which I speculate is the result of plastic surgery... but I'm not implying anything. Wait, yes I am). BUT SHE IS SO DAMN MODEST ABOUT IT. That's what really got to me. She even told me she was still a virgin! Shya, and monkeys fly out of my butt.   
I drew in a deep breath, pondering my next move. It was starting to get dark, and I saw people heading for Milliken Park, where the Valentine's Day Fireworks Comittee began to set up.   
"Maybe Leon will be there."  
As much as I hated him at that moment, some strange feeling within me needed to see Leon again.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
I didnt say much, as we rode Chris' car to Milliken park. He was driving, I was in the passenger car, and we were holding hands. Sherry was in the backseat, trying to beat the final boss in Pokemon Silver. Or gold. Or red. Or yellow. Whatever. Leon seemed really depressed, and I knew that it was about Claire. He pulled me aside, making sure Chris and Sherry didnt hear us, and told me he said something to Claire that really set her off... then she ran away. "Jill, I'm really worried about her..." he had said to me.  
Now, Leon is a really sweet guy. And Claire is a really... um... interesting girl. They seem like a really good couple... after all, they HAVE been through a lot with each other. Leon, Claire and Sherry all helped each other in escaping Raccoon City... Sherry had told me the terrifying account they had with the "G-Type" in the train... they all seem like a nice family... but all three of them refuse to acknowledge that.   
"Something on your mind, Jill?" Chris said to me, in his really cute over-protective tone.  
"No..."   
"You sure?"  
"Yeah..."   
But I wasnt.  
Leon and I told Chris that Claire went to the park early, and we'd meet her there. I hate lying to Chris, because I know that he'd never lie to me, but Leon really insisted that Chris shouldnt know why his sister wasnt with us.   
I turned the car radio on, and that really, REALLY annoying Britney Spears song came on. You know which one I'm talking about... it has that music video where she's dressed in hardly anything? Oh, my mistake, that's EVERY Britney Spears music video.   
But something else was on my mind. Leon always smiled when he looked at me. That wasn't a bad thing... but... it's that kinda smile that says "How YOU doin'?" in that really sultry Joey Tribbiani voice. But no matter. I'm sure it's nothing...  
Little did I know that the Valentine's fireworks display we were all about to attend would be both a blessing, and a curse. 


End file.
